Final numbers from Phoenix

The 2024 GCSAA Conference and Trade Show in Phoenix attracted nearly 11,000 attendees and filled more than 6,600 seminar seats, according to the GCSAA. The seminar seats filled represented the highest total since 2008.

In addition to education for superintendents, the event included specialized education for assistant superintendents, equipment managers, students and more. Educational offerings ranged from traditional classroom settings to seven interactive facility tours at Phoenix-area courses.

The trade show floor featured 352,000 square feet of exhibit space at the Phoenix Convention Center and featured 470 exhibits. The GCSAA reported in its post-show news release the trade show sold out.  

The week began with the GCSAA Golf Championships presented by Toro, the 30th straight year the company sponsored the event. The sold-out outing featured 638 unique golfers competing in various flighted competitions across six golf courses. Miami Beach (Florida) Golf Club director of agronomy Seth Strickland won the National Championship for the sixth time while Crestview (Kansas) Country Club superintendent Joshua Troutman won the Golf Classic.

The conference featured the launch of Golf’s Sustainability Showcase, a collaboration of the GCBAA, GCSAA, USGA and ASGCA. The Showcase featured interactive displays highlighting research, innovation, technology and best practices, as well as storytellers bringing to life the sustainability efforts and progress made throughout the golf industry.

On Wednesday, the Sunrise Celebration, presented in partnership with Syngenta, saw Dottie Pepper receive GCSAA’s Old Tom Morris Award and Georgia GCSA executive director Tenia Workman receive the Outstanding Contribution Award.

During the Trade Show Grand Opening event, attendees witnessed the announcement of a $1 million gift from Mike and Tami Hoffman to GCSAA First Green. The Hoffmans’ donation will power GCSAA’s STEAM Ahead initiative enabling First Green to integrate arts to its existing STEM curriculum to reach more students by offering STEAM education as part of its hands-on learning on golf courses. 

Later in the day, at the conclusion of the popular Ladies Leading Turf session, presented in partnership with Syngenta, it was announced that the program will be rebranded in 2025 to Leading Turf Together to emphasize togetherness while maintaining focus on diversity, equity and inclusion.

Wednesday also featured the 2024 GCSAA Turf Bowl, presented in partnership with John Deere. Purdue University Team 51 won the 2024 Turf Bowl, which was the 30th anniversary of the competition. The Turf Bowl competition included 63 teams from 28 universities.

The highlight of the Thursday Send-Off Celebration presented in partnership with John Deere was the awarding of the GCSAA Col. John Morley Award to retired superintendent William “Bill” Murray along with the presentation of the Emerging Leader Award to Richie Kremer and the GCSAA President’s Award for Environmental Stewardship to Wayne Mills. The event ended with a keynote speech by Brendan McDonough, who inspired the movie “Only the Brave” and survived the Yarnell Hill Wildfire that killed 19 of his fellow Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighters in 2013.

The 2025 GCSAA Conference and Trade Show is Feb. 3-6 in San Diego.